Disentangling the near infrared continuum spectral components of the inner 500 pc of Mrk 573: two-dimensional maps

We present a near infrared study of the spectral components of the continuum in the inner 500$\times$500 pc$^2$ of the nearby Seyfert galaxy Mrk573 using adaptive optics near-infrared integral field spectroscopy with the instrument NIFS of the Gemini North Telescope at a spatial resolution of $\sim$50 pc. We performed spectral synthesis using the {\sc starlight} code and constructed maps for the contributions of different age components of the stellar population: young ($age\leq100$ Myr), young-intermediate ($100<age\leq700$ Myr), intermediate-old ($700$ Myr $2$ Gyr) to the near-IR K-band continuum, as well as their contribution to the total stellar mass. We found that the old stellar population is dominant within the inner 250 pc, while the intermediate age components dominate the continuum at larger distances. A young stellar component contributes up to $\sim$20% within the inner $\sim$70 pc, while hot dust emission and featureless continuum components are also necessary to fit the nuclear spectrum, contributing up to 20% of the K-band flux there. The radial distribution of the different age components in the inner kiloparsec of Mrk573 is similar to those obtained by our group for the Seyfert galaxies Mrk1066, Mrk1157 and NGC1068 in previous works using a similar methodology. Young stellar populations ($\leq$100 Myr) are seen in the inner 200-300 pc for all galaxies contributing with $\ge$20% of the K-band flux, while the near-IR continuum is dominated by the contribution of intermediate-age stars ($t=$100 Myr-2 Gyr) at larger distances. Older stellar populations dominate in the inner 250 pc

Communities reclaiming power and social justice in the face of climate change

As the climate crisis accelerates and disproportionately affects marginalised communities and countries in the global South, the need for power and social justice approaches is particularly important. Community psychology, with a long interest in the impacts of power discrepancies on the well-being of groups and communities, can offer theoretical and practical tools for addressing climate change and environmental problems without reproducing or intensifying existing inequalities and injustices. This special issue looks at communities’ struggles for climate and environmental justice by focusing on how they resist, contest and overcome power inequalities. The issue consists of one perspective and six empirical articles. Most contributions come from high climate vulnerable countries and regions in the global South. Authors address current and relevant environmental and climate change issues such as renewable energy and natural resource extraction, social transformations and extreme weather events, the links between poverty, rurality and climate change, youth empowerment, and racism in climate activism. Inspired by their contributions, community psychology approaches and interdisciplinary research on environmental and climate justice, we discuss a research and intervention agenda for a community psychology of climate change.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Wayfinding and Glaucoma: A Virtual Reality Experiment.

PurposeWayfinding, the process of determining and following a route between an origin and a destination, is an integral part of everyday tasks. The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of glaucomatous visual field loss on wayfinding behavior using an immersive virtual reality (VR) environment.MethodsThis cross-sectional study included 31 glaucomatous patients and 20 healthy subjects without evidence of overall cognitive impairment. Wayfinding experiments were modeled after the Morris water maze navigation task and conducted in an immersive VR environment. Two rooms were built varying only in the complexity of the visual scene in order to promote allocentric-based (room A, with multiple visual cues) versus egocentric-based (room B, with single visual cue) spatial representations of the environment. Wayfinding tasks in each room consisted of revisiting previously visible targets that subsequently became invisible.ResultsFor room A, glaucoma patients spent on average 35.0 seconds to perform the wayfinding task, whereas healthy subjects spent an average of 24.4 seconds (P = 0.001). For room B, no statistically significant difference was seen on average time to complete the task (26.2 seconds versus 23.4 seconds, respectively; P = 0.514). For room A, each 1-dB worse binocular mean sensitivity was associated with 3.4% (P = 0.001) increase in time to complete the task.ConclusionsGlaucoma patients performed significantly worse on allocentric-based wayfinding tasks conducted in a VR environment, suggesting visual field loss may affect the construction of spatial cognitive maps relevant to successful wayfinding. VR environments may represent a useful approach for assessing functional vision endpoints for clinical trials of emerging therapies in ophthalmology

Aptidão edafo-climática da região situada entre a Serra dos Carajás e o Porto de Itaqui para mandioca, babaçu, dendê, cana-de-açúcar e seringueira.

bitstream/item/28927/1/CPATU-BP18.pd

Sample size for family evaluation in potato breeding programs.

Clonal families from a broad genetic base population in the Potato Breeding Program at the Universidade Federal de Lavras (UFLA), Brazil, were used in this trials. Twenty-five families were assessed in a 5 x 5 triple lattice design. Each plot consisted of 30 clones distributed in three rows of ten plants. Tuber yield per plant, percentage of large tubers, mean weight of large tubers, mean medium-sized tuber weight and tuber specific gravity were measured. Three hundred experiments were simulated varying the family sizes from three to 90 clones. The coefficients of experimental variation (CVe), the coefficients of genetic variation (CVg), heritabilities for family mean and the CVg/CVe ratio were estimated. Genetic parameters were stabilized with family sizes as small as six clones, depending on the trait. This indicates that the families can be adequately represented by a small sample of clones. Using the maximum curvature method it is possible to conclude that approximately 30 clones would be sufficient to represent each family, even for traits with the highest CVe. The genetic variance within family was greater than the genetic variance among families for all traits, indicating a favorable potential for within family selection. The correlation coefficients of the family means with the 5%, 10%, 15% and 20% best clones from each family, considering the five traits assessed, were always high, meaning that within the best families generally are the best clones

Modeling the ecology and evolution of biodiversity: Biogeographical cradles, museums, and graves

Individual processes shaping geographical patterns of biodiversity are increasingly understood, but their complex interactions on broad spatial and temporal scales remain beyond the reach of analytical models and traditional experiments. To meet this challenge, we built a spatially explicit, mechanistic simulation model implementing adaptation, range shifts, fragmentation, speciation, dispersal, competition, and extinction, driven by modeled climates of the past 800,000 years in South America. Experimental topographic smoothing confirmed the impact of climate heterogeneity on diversification. The simulations identified regions and episodes of speciation (cradles), persistence (museums), and extinction (graves). Although the simulations had no target pattern and were not parameterized with empirical data, emerging richness maps closely resembled contemporary maps for major taxa, confirming powerful roles for evolution and diversification driven by topography and climate

Soroprevalência da infecção por Brucella ovis em ovinos explorados na microrregião homogênea de Teresina, Piauí, Brasil.

[Brucella ovis infection seroprevalence in sheep exploited the homogeneous micro Teresina, Piaui, Brazil]. Abstract: Considering the importance of this disease and the lack of data on the state of Piauí, the aim of this study was to determine the sero-epidemiological situation of Brucella ovis infection in sheep from Teresina homogeneous microregion, Piauí. The study included a sampling universe of 282 sheep distributed in 24 herds, and the samples were collected by venipuncture of the jugular vein. Serology for detection of anti-B. ovis antibodies was performed by the method of agarose gel immunodiffusion (AGID). Of the 282 samples tested, there was 5.67% (16/282) positive to B. ovis infection by immunodiffusion in agarose gel test. Brucella ovis is present in sheep flocks in Teresina homogeneous microregion, necessitating thus the implementation of control measures to prevent the spread of this disease.Trabalho apresentado nos Anais do VII Congresso Norte Nordeste de Reprodução Anima (CONERA), Mossoró, maio, 2014

Inibição da germinação de escleródios de Rhizoctonia solani por rizobactérias do feijão-caupi.

O uso de rizobactérias vem sendo investigado como controle alternativo da mela do feijão-caupi, causado por Rhizoctonia solani. Este trabalho teve como objetivo selecionar rizobactérias do feijão caupi com capacidade de reduzir a germinação de escleródios de R. solani. No primeiro ensaio, 117 isolados foram testados e avaliou-se a germinação de escleródios do fungo mantido por 24 horas em suspensão de rizobactéria in vitro. Dezenove isolados agruparam separadamente do grupo da testemunha, a partir de dendograma baseado no índice de inibição de germinação (IIG), e foram testados em casa-de-vegetação. Neste ensaio, suspensões dos isolados foram adicionadas, separadamente, a vasos contendo solo esterilizado e pecíolos de feijão-caupi colonizados por escleródios de R. solani. Após 10 dias recuperou-se os escleródios e verificou-se a germinação em ágar-água. Oitos isolados de rizobactérias com IIG entre 33 e 96% foram selecionados para estudos como agentes de biocontrole da mela do feijão-caupi